Before the Internet, The VCR Was Terrorizing Your Children (Video)

It’s the 1980s. Young horror fans are in their glory, while their parents are outraged over the tapes that are easily accessible to them at the local video store. ABC News runs a news piece on their show 20/20, aimed to demonize horror films and the kids who enjoy them with all kinds of wild and salacious accusations. Three decades later, the news piece serves as a 15 minute journey back in time, reminding us horror fans of our early years spent ingesting horror VHS tapes, so voraciously that it’s almost as if we knew they were going out of style.

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I think it’s at least an open question as to whether the kids themselves might not be scarier than the media they’re watching.

I remember my gramms a long time ago telling me a horrific story about 10 year-old kids’ merrymaking during the holidays when she was young, back like in the early 1900’s: they tied a quarter stick of dynamite to a dog’s tale and lit the fuse.

DeepCough

Ugh, I watched 20/20 as a kid (it was on after TGIF), and even then, I
thought some of the stories they ran were just conservative bitching
about the “corruption of the American child.”

Since we’re on the subject of 20/20 and “conservative bitching,” here’s the “expose” on “Heavy Metal.”

is it just me, or is that TV at 2:08 incredibly slim? I thought TV’s back then were a fair size bigger o_0

Simiantognue

Notice the screen is tilted slightly forward. It’s a projection screen TV, not a cathode ray tube. If you look closely you will see that the screen tilts down slightly, facing three elements out in front at the bottom. One Green one red one blue. Those projectors project the image onto the flat screen.

It was never a popular design, not very good for areas with a lot of light. Nighttime viewing or basement TV rooms were best.